Haunted Houses - Love Them or Hate Them?

I've never been a fan of scary movies or haunted houses. I lived on an island in Texas and every Halloween; there were haunted houses everywhere. I had 3 brothers and 3 sisters that loved to go. I always went along but it was very difficult for me. I remember being little and scared. I cried so much that a vampire had to carry me out of there!

It's the whole suspense thing that I can't get over. Not knowing what's around the corner or when it's going to pop out scares me even if nothing ever happens. It got to be where I chose more and more to skip those ghoulish houses and stay home and watch the Disney movie of the night!

In my late 20's I was a professional working in a nice office building downtown in Houston. Our work group thought it would be a great idea to convert a few offices into a haunted house. They hung black trash bags from the ceiling to create the darkness and a maze pattern. Recalling my fear, I thought now that I'm older, I should have no problem so I thought it would be fun to face my old fears. I shared my fear with a few people and one of the men that I worked with promised to stay immediately in front of me so I could hide behind him if I needed to. As soon as the office door closed behind me, he took off leaving me for dead!

I remember seeing glowing green eyes and hearing all the screams. I started to panic and thought that if I just crouched down, they wouldn't know I was there. They were probably trying to grab where they thought I'd be standing so I hunched down to the ground then, yes... I started to cry. Someone grabbed me freaking me out more then pulled me out of there to rescue me. Like the vampire when I was a kid, I was once again rescued from the darkness of death!

Needless to say, the office staff had a great time with my fears. When I arrived to work the next day, I had cobwebs strewn about my desk with fake spiders all over the place. Some spiders were even on my phone receivers. They also left a little poem to display what they thought was funny.

To this day, I won't step foot in a haunted house or watch a scary movie. I even shield this from my children who are both over 11 years old.